First Impressions: The Free Peoples, Part III

Good morning gamers,

This is my last post for now in the First Impressions series and today we're finishing sort of where we began: with the Free Peoples. While we've already looked at the members of the Fellowship, their associates in Bree, the Ents, and the Hobbits of the Shire, our focus today is largely on the White Council - three of the strongest wizards that the Forces of Good have access to and one fairly erratic Dwarf (who is surprisingly reliable in the new edition).

I'd like to begin this discussion with a brief review of the previous edition and the role these characters played in shaping the meta and many of the rules changes we saw in the semiannual rules updates. When the MESBG revamp happened in 2018, it didn't take long for a lot of people to find out ways you could abuse the alliance matrix to include characters like Cirdan, Arwen, and Shades in your lists - and the inclusion of these characters in basically everything not only added the list building restriction that you needed a Hero of Valour/Legend to ally conveniently/impossibly, but some heroes underwent heroic tier changes (like Cirdan/Arwen becoming Minor heroes, but also Haldir/Dwarf Kings/other Kings becoming Heroes of Valour to make most thematic list building dilemmas work).

While this initial wave of changes didn't involve the members of the White Council, it was the limitation of Cirdan from the "easy alliance" choice that made many competitive players look to Galadriel, Lady of Light as the new default - a Hero of Valour who could ally with just about anyone conveniently and brought good anti-archery, good anti-magic, and a decent combat buff to your army. I mean, with very few exceptions, a strong competitive list began with Galadriel (and Rythbyrt even won one of our GTs with Galadriel+).

As a result, Galadriel herself got reduced to a Hero of Fortitude so you'd have to bring her with another big hero (which you could certainly do, but it came at the cost of using other big heroes - like Gwaihir - or dumping a budget hero and 10+ warriors from your list). At about the time that Lady of Light players were driven to sadness, the Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion dropped and players figured out that they could cast Nature's Wrath/Wrath of Bruinen on their own fights while engaged in combat to knock EVERY enemy model prone and never take damage. The heroes who didn't have access to these spells could also rely on things like Sorcerous Blast to knock people into the right fights and knock all THOSE people prone, preventing anyone from being able to do reliable damage in melee unless they had very strong magical resistances on EVERY model in their army (which basically no one else had). Oh, and the list was very strong against magic and archery because Galadriel was in it.

This Legion got nerfed in various ways, not the least of which was the requirement to have 470pts of heroes in it (Saruman, Galadriel, and Gandalf), which meant you probably weren't running it below 650 because you wanted Elrond in the list (unless you were crazy like me - I was fine at 500 with those three characters), but also the heroes were prevented from casting their knock-Prone spells while engaged in combat. This made the Legion still show up in some events, but it was certainly never as strong as it was when it was released.

So with all this as background, let's look and see what's become of some of the characters who have shaped the meta at various times and see if they're still as good as they were or if they've fallen a bit by the wayside.

The Wizards: How Have They "Changed?"

This post will be focusing on Saruman and Radagast - if you want the run-down on the changes to Gandalf, check out our post on the Fellowship version of Gandalf (they're exactly the same). The BLUF for him is that he's going to have a harder time keeping you safe from archery now that Blinding Light doesn't stay up, but he's got 2 Attacks base now, can reliably cast his hardest spells with Heroic Channelling (costing him 1 Might point and his free Will point), and he gained Foil Magic which is a niche-but-nice way to shut down Exhaustion spells that your opponent casts (more on this in a bit).

Saruman is still the same price but has 2 Attacks base instead of 1 Attack. His Lord of the Istari special rule went from giving him a reroll on his casting attempts to being able to prevent an enemy model within 6" and LOS that fails an Intelligence check from Activating this turn. This is a pretty neat ability, but there is a feeling of loss without the reroll (but more on that at the end of this post). Beyond his magical spell suite which we'll look at next, his profile is basically unchanged and he's still a bit expensive for the written numbers in his profile.

Like pretty much all of the other casters in the game, Saruman the White's spell suite changed. Before he cast Transfix and Terrifying Aura on a 2+ and now they're cast on a 3+ (with the 18" range on Transfix preserved). Compel is still cast on a 3+ at 18" range, which is VERY useful. Sorcerous Blast used to be cast on a 4+ and is now cast on a 5+, so the general rule of "casting difficulties got higher" has played out for most of his spells.

He lost Aura of Command, so he can't make people automatically pass Courage tests - which is fine in an era of the game where you can't ally things willy-nilly and the people you're forced to work with all have great Courage stats. In "trade", he gained Fog of Disarray on a 3+ (which is a new exhaustion spell that applies a -1 penalty to enemy model Intelligence checks within 6" of him, which is actually quite useful with his Lord of the Istari rule). He also gained Protection of the Valar on a 3+ (which is very useful for getting anti-magic up on Turn 1 - especially since it's also available on Gandalf the Grey, both of which can use Protection of the Valar to buy time for Galadriel to get Fortify Spirit up on everyone during the first few turns), and Foil Magic on a 4+ (again, useful for shutting down exhaustion spells - most notably Fog of Disarray if you have Thrain the Broken in your list, Paralyze if you run afoul of Barrow-Wights, and Fury when it eventually comes back in the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement).

All told, Saruman still has good options in the early-game to slow down something big with low Will, has the ability to root-in-place a low Intelligence foe nearby without using his magical arsenal, and has some good early-game build-up spells that can be cast reliably with his free die alone.

Radagast is now 145pts (-5pts from the last edition, but really -10pts because he starts with Sebastian in his profile) and like Saruman, he has base 2 Attacks (plus the free dueling/wounding die from Sebastian). He picked up the Thorin's Company keyword, so he can benefit from two relevant Thorin's Company army list rules (he must be included in Thorin's Warband and can be taken in a Thorin's Company list while allowing the Dwarves to use their Will to declare Heroic Marches). He traded the One with Nature rule for the Mountain Dweller/Woodland Creature special rules, which is not exactly the same - the jump/leap/climb boosts will be better sometimes, moving through marshy terrain will be worse at other times - but only in Thorin's Company, more on that at the end of the post).

His spells saw the expected changes in casting values - Panic Steed/Terrifying Aura are cast on a 3+ (not 2+), Renew/Transfix are cast on a 4+ (not 3+), but Nature's Wrath is still cast on a 4+, which is interesting. Aura of Dismay is still cast on a 5+, but is not nearly as powerful as it was before - though it also wasn't necessary if you fielded Radagast with the White Council or with Eagles/Beorn, since everyone had or could get Terror on themselves without Aura of Dismay. If anything, the change to Aura of Dismay is good for Radagast in a White Council/Radagast's Alliance list (negligible in a Thorin's Company list), but more on that later when we get to Galadriel. He also gained the Writhing Vines magical power, which is cast on a 5+ (this allows him to place a 25mm vine marker that provides a 3" radius of difficult terrain around it - that's a pretty big debuff zone for enemy cavalry that want to crash into your flank - and it's super easy to get that to cover everyone in a White Council list if you're balled up together).

Radagast's Sleigh is F2/S3/2A instead of F3/S2/4A, so it's less devastating than it was in the last edition. Nature's Wrath still radiates from the mount, however, so your area of impact is HUGE still. The sleigh moves like a Chariot now, so positioning that massive base to affect the people you want will be harder, but you can also do two S4 impact hits on whoever you charge into/through, which is nice. The sleigh has Dominant (3), which will only matter in Thorin's Company OR if you dismount from the Sleigh and it sticks around (golly, having Aura of Command would actually have been useful there). Finally, the sleigh has Woodland Creature now instead of Fleetfoot because standardization of rules for the win!

I've always thought Radagast was an underrated wizard - so much so that I almost brought him to an event just to see if I could mess with people - but he certainly seems to have a lot of options and I think the rules changes have been kind to him.

Thrain and Galadriel: How Have They "Changed?"

In the last edition, I was a big fan of including Thrain the Broken in Pits of Dol Guldur lists - not only was he the only F4 infantry option you had (and came in about the same cost as a Gundabad Orc with shield), but his Shattered Spirit rule made him a really dynamic unit to use. In the current edition, he's still 10 points, but like Merry and Pippin from the Fellowship lists, he picked up a free Fate Point (which is great, because going from 0 Fate to 1 Fate feels a lot bigger than it appears on paper).

He saw a change to his Shattered Spirit rule - instead of taking a Courage check, he takes an Intelligence test. Like before, passing it on something other than doubles does nothing special, failing it makes you controlled by the opposing player, and passing it on a double gives him +2 Strength, +2 Attacks, and Fearless. While a F4/S4/3A model with Fearless isn't something to write home about, I dare you to find a 10-point model with anywhere CLOSE to that stat line.

The buffs he got from the Shattered Spirit rule aren't really new (it used to boost his Courage instead of giving him Fearless and his Fight Value went up to F6), but he also got a new rule (Gandalf's Intervention), which allows the controlling player to modify one of the two dice Thrain uses for his Intelligence test by +1 or -1 if Gandalf is within 3" of Thrain - and if the modified result ends up with doubles, you can trigger the mega-boost rule as if you had rolled it. 

For you math-heads out there, that means that if Gandalf isn't nearby, Thrain has a 28% chance of failing the Intel-test and an 11% chance of getting the mega boosts. If Gandalf is within 3" of Thrain, however, he only has a 17% chance of failing the Intel-test and has a 33% chance of getting the mega boosts. Put differently, if Gandalf isn't around, you should expect Thrain to be controlled by your opponent in three-of-ten rounds and only get the combat boosts in one-of-ten rounds (or not very often at all). However, if Gandalf is nearby, your opponent will get to control him in one-of-six rounds and you'll get the boosts in two-of-six rounds (which is pretty good). In both cases, roughly half the time, he'll have whatever his printed profile says . . . which is fine, for a 10pt model.

Our final character for today is Galadriel, Lady of Light - the lady who put the White Council on the map in the previous edition. Her cost dropped by 5 points to 125 and is now without a doubt the best anti-archery character in the game (since the Light of Earendil is always up and provides a static hit-on-6s to everyone nearby without having to roll a die every turn). She still get a free Will point each turn that isn't tied to a Staff of Power and her War Aspect rule still prevents her from being treated as Unarmed and applies a -1 penalty to enemy Courage (which stacks with Aura of Dismay for a -2 Courage penalty on enemy models within 6" of both her and Radagast). Paired with her own Instill Fear magical power (that gives enemy models Fearful to stall them in their tracks before they charge a Terror-wall White Council list), War Aspect and Aura of Dismay are likely to put in a lot of work for you.

The "Go Back to the Void..." rule that she had in the Vanquishers LL got added to her profile, so she can cast Banishment against non-Spirit models, though they get a free die to resist. This is good, as it retains her ability to skirmish against warrior models and can even try plucking wounds off big heroes. I would still be hesitant to do the once-per-game ability with it, as it REALLY limits her combat and support abilities (what with losing all her Will points turning off Fortify Spirit, losing her free Will point each turn, and counting as Unarmed). As a last-turn-parting-shot-to-kill-an-enemy-banner/general, sure - but Turn 1 splashy play? Not so much.

Her magical suite has already been talked about - she has Fortify Spirit on a 3+ (instead of a 2+ - that's a big change, but also not hard to get with the army list bonuses), Banishment is cast on a 4+ instead of a 3+ (and again, she can ignore the Spirit-only restriction of the spell for the low-low price of giving the targeted model a chance of resisting), and Instill Fear remains cast on a 4+, which doesn't scatter people about like it used to, but also makes it twice as hard to charge you and might even root enemy models on the spot. All in all, she's still got a very strong spell array and provides very good utility for very little cost. A shame she's stuck in this list, right?

But wait, there's more . . .

The White Council: How Has It "Changed"?

These characters, as well as Gandalf and Elrond without his horse, can be fielded in the White Council army list. Like the old Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion, each of the "big five" brings a bonus that friendly White Council models (aka not Thrain) within 3" can use:

• Saruman allows them to reroll any die result of 1 when casting a magical power;
• Gandalf allows them to reroll 1s when making Strikes;
• Radagast allows them to move through difficult terrain;
• Elrond is treated as a banner; and
• Galadriel gives them Resistant to Magic.

They still get the abilities to cast magic while engaged - excluding the three spells that knock people prone - and get +1 to any Resist Tests they take while within 6" of a White Council friend. The wizards lost the ability to have Attacks equal to their wounds, but with 2 Attacks base and a new rule that gives them all Dominant (3), I think I can live with this slight nerf.

So what does all this mean? First, while Saruman lost the ability to rerolling a casting die or a resisting die, he kinda didn't - he can only reroll 1s and only if there's a friend next to him, but he also picked up a very useful neutering spell against high-powered, low-Intelligence grunts. He can't cast multiple times like he used to, but that might be alright - it used to BURN through his resources. Gandalf is no longer granting Fearless, which is good on an army that has crazy good Courage stats anyway and instead gives people a do-over on what will always be a failed wounding attempt anyway.

Radagast lost his universal move-through-all-terrain-without-penalty in his profile, but also didn't lose it in the White Council army list (and gives it to everyone else like he used to). Elrond is still your banner, but unfortunately doesn't count as one for VPs (which he never did). Galadriel still gives everyone Resistant to Magic, and while that isn't any different from the last edition, magic itself has gotten harder to resist and Fortify Spirit isn't giving you two extra dice like it used to (just one now), so being able to still get 2 free dice with +1 to the highest result is pretty slick.

Conclusion

All told, I really like the list and the characters in it, though it's unclear to me how competitive a six-model list like this is, even against other low-model-count, hero-only lists (Assault on Ravenhill, the Fellowship, the Trolls, and Thorin's Company in particular - to say nothing of the "Champ only" variant of Erebor Reclaimed or any number of builds you can make with the mega-lists that could be all-hero even though they have warrior options). Still, the characters are good, they can withstand a lot of punishment if they stick together, and if you're playing Hold Ground or something like that where you can afford to bubble-up and stay on a space, I think they will be very hard to shift. With a list that maxes out at 825pts with the sleigh, I think it's a very strong take at 800pts if you know the scenarios you're going to have to play won't have you going anywhere, but it will reward skilled players and might be punishing for new players, so take your time if you try out these characters (and the White Council list in particular) and be patient.

Next time, we're kicking off a new series where we'll be walking through the new army lists and seeing what's up with them and how they've changed. Our walk through begins with the Fellowship and will continue for most of the year (and into next year) as we plow through the MANY different army lists that are available to us now. If you enjoyed this post (or if there's something I forgot), drop us a note below - and until next time, happy hobbying!